DOES ANYONE REMEMBER WHEN IT WASN’T STORMY?

It’s fair to say that I’m struggling to remember when the last time we had some calm weather, given we’re experiencing storm after storm hitting the UK.

And, if there hasn’t been a named storm, then we’ve been hit be continual low pressures or the windy edge of a high pressure.

The fields are soaking, and large ponds of water are now forming and not draining at all.

Even the stream alongside the lane regularly breaches the banks when we’ve had a few hours of rain.

These videos are taken one day last week, then below are two mages taken the same time, on the following day.

To see all that in one go, here’s a collated image. What’s not shown is the water on the lane is gradually damaging the surface and there’s not a day goes by when the lane doesn’t have large puddles dotted along it.

 

The wildlife is not appearing to be affected by the weather, well from what I can see and hear.

The dawn chorus has been getting stronger each day recently, although the storm and wet mornings have limited activity.

During the day we’re now hearing more territorial songs from the robins, blue tits, great tits and also the odd chaffinch.

The breeding season is largely dictated by the day length, but I do wonder how the storm will affect it long-term.

If the butterflies and moths, which lay eggs that then turn onto the caterpillar food for the small garden birds, get impacted by the storms, then how will the birds cope?

That will also impact some the birds of prey in the area, but we can only wait and see how that all plays out.

If the stormy weather continues for a while, then our summer migrants might also be impacted; so swallows, house martins, swifts and cuckoos.

Again only time with tell, until then we’ll continue to batten down the hatches and hope the water levels gradually drop.

SPRING WILL HAVE TO WAIT… BUT NOT FOR LONG

Once again winter has delivered its weather, proving it’s more likely to snow at Easter then Christmas.

However this blast of cold weather and snow for some, looks likely to be replaced by much milder, some would say typical, spring-like weather later this week.

Most will say it’s a shame that the Bank Holiday weather has been not so spring-like; and the wildlife is probably in agreement.

The breeding season has definitely been on hold, with little sign of nests being built, but plenty of the local garden birds pairing up.

The cold weather has meant a delay in fixing the nest box cameras, although I suspect it might be too late as the milder weather is likely to herald the start of nest building.

Will the extension of winter mean lower breeding numbers than usual, as the breeding season for the local birds will see the first broods fledging in early to mid-May?

Possibly, however the blue tits fledged in mid-May last year and did come under threat from a cold blast at the end of April.

The real indicator for the start of garden bird breeding season will need to see some leaves on the trees and caterpillars munching on those leaves.

It’ll need some warmer weather to encourage the butterflies and moths to lay their eggs, and that’ll be the indicator for the small birds to start laying eggs.

Only time, and hopefully a fully functioning camera, will tell.

And what about the arrival of the summer visitors? Well last year is was the earliest recorded arrival since at least 2013,. The 08^th of April saw the first swallows arrive, with blue skies and temperatures of 20c.

Previous dates for the first swallow sighting have been

2017 – 08/04

2016 – 10/04

2015 – 21/04

2014 – 19/04

In theory we could see the first swallows arriving this weekend, but the average tells us it’ll be the second full weekend of April.

The swallow is my favourite bird, closely followed by the peregrine falcon. Luckily both are seen around here, although the peregrine is resident, it’s more likely to be seen a short walk from the garden, while the swallow can be see daily swooping low over the garden in summer.

A BUMPER BREEDING SEASON?

Plenty of butterflies and moths have been in and around the garden recently, which makes me think it’s been a good year for them.

The most ‘popular’ attendees to the garden are the orange tip butterfly and the cinnabar moth, both of whom have been seen daily in the garden.

I’m beginning to think this has been a significant boom year for our small garden birds. I’ve now seen two lots of blue tit fledglings, the latest this week and the robins are looking distinctly scruffy, which makes me think they’re on to their third brood.

The blackbirds have had at least two, the swallows second brood also fledged this week and there appears to be large numbers of magpies and goldfinches.

But the big news on the nesting front is that both the house sparrows and tree sparrows are busy raising a third brood in the garden nest boxes.

The parents seem to be having a competition with each other as to who can raise the most chicks, as invariably when I can hear chicks in one nest the other follows with a day or so.

I’m not sure how many have fledged from each nest since April, but it must be double figures.

I very much doubt there’ll be a fourth fledging, but with the hedgerows around the garden swaying under the weight of sparrows, I wouldn’t be surprised.

What it must mean is it’ll also be a bumper year for the birds of prey. I know there’s a few sparrowhawk around here and certainly kestrels. The crows, magpies and jays may also pick of a few weaker young too, plus the resident little and tawny owls might pinch a couple from night roosts.

In the next couple of weeks I’ll be showcasing the transformation of the garden, showing images taken at weekly intervals from March this year.

The transformation is stunning, well I think so.

SUMMER BRINGS SUNSHINE, GROWING PLANTS AND DISAPPEARING BIRDS

The warm weather was interrupted by a few heavy showers and plenty of rain this weekend. While it’s great to be able to sit in the garden and enjoy being amongst the wildlife, the wet weather is most definitely welcome, both for the flora and fauna.

I did feel sorry for the birds who visited the garden looking like they had been swimming, and also the bees who got a pounding from the raindrops as they tried to gather nectar from the flowers.

I’m hoping to continue harvesting the vegetable crops this week, following the broad beans that made a tasty and welcome addition to the homemade paella I cooked this week.

The potatoes should be ready soon, while the runner beans and tomatoes should start showing by the end of July.

Of course the broad beans will still be harvested for the next few weeks and I’m delighted that they’ve done so well considering I’ve not grown them before in the garden.

The sunflowers are really starting to grow, with one now over six feet tall. I think they’ll be half a dozen that will exceed six feet and I’m sure the birds will welcome the seeds in early autumn.

The birds are now making themselves scarce; only the robins, blackbirds and goldfinches regularly visible now.

I have seen a few chiffchaffs, and heard plenty, but I’m not sure if they’re feeding youngsters or not. I suspect they are, but where is beyond me so far.

With the height of summer fast approaching I know the bird visits will decrease and I’ll have to concentrate on what’s growing in the garden, although the insects will take over to some degree, particularly the numbers of butterflies and moths, more of which next week.

Of course this will last until late summer when the young small birds that have survived the dangerous first couple of months return to a place their parents have used to feed, shelter and breed.

CAN SPRING, SPRING INTO LIFE?

Good news and bad news this week. The good news is the nestbox camera started to work again and revealed some very egg-citing news. The bad news is towards the end of the week it stopped working again!

I’m just relying on hope that it’ll somehow come back online because I can’t risk disturbing the pair of blue tits at this stage.

As you can see from the images below, the news this week has been around the laying of eggs. The first one was laid on Wednesday night, with another one joining it on Thursday night.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I was ‘on duty’ for my own offspring on Thursday night so the only pic I got was of the female roosting, by Friday morning, when I expected to get the image of more eggs, the camera had stopped transmitting.

Over the weekend I’ve noticed increased activity around the nestbox and the blue tits are still going in and out of it, so I can only assume there are more eggs and in a couple of weeks there will be chicks.

My concern at this point is the availability of caterpillars for the youngsters to feed on. The weather reports for the next week suggest no real warmth and with very few butterflies and moths being seen I’m not sure if there will be much, if any, food for the chicks.

I’ve got my supply of mealworms, so will be ready to supplement the natural food supply when I think the chicks have arrived (hopefully know because of the camera miraculously working), so support is at hand for the blue tits and the other birds visiting my garden.

In other news I have seen a few more bees about, although nowhere near as many as in recent Aprils, so I can only hope that the flowers I’ve got blooming in my garden are able to help the insects that are currently active.

I’m now seeing the robins in singles rather than the previous duos, so I’m presuming the female is sitting on eggs somewhere. I’d like to know where the nest is, even though I have an idea, but for now I’m happy with seeing one of the prospective parents following me around whenever I’m working outside.

Looking back on my blog from last year I noticed that the swallows arrived back later than this year, with the first one sighted in 2013 just over a week earlier than in 2012. Is this a sign for a good summer?

The six that did arrive in mid-April have now become just a pair, I suspect it’s simply a case of the group splitting up to find suitable nesting sites, but I presume the pair that has stayed is either parents from last year, or one of their youngsters.

Finally my sparrow nestbox has had some visitors and is becoming a regular perching spot for some of the groups of house sparrows that visit my garden. I watched out of the window yesterday as a male and female perched there and started looking at the holes to gain access.

Perhaps the late winter and delayed spring did help in my quest to provide house sparrow accommodation this year!

FINAL FAREWELL FROM THE SWALLOWS?

The lowest weather pressure system seen in Britain in September for over 30 years has brought chaos to many parts of the UK, particularly northern England.

Major flooding affected the roads and countryside around my home and garden, at one point making the house impossible to get to.

After three days of rain, torrential at times, the garden resembled a sodden marsh, even the snails and slugs seemed to be disturbed by the weather.

One thing I didn’t expect to see was what greeted me earlier this week. Below is an image of about 25 swallows swooping over a partially flooded field, chattering away in excitement to each other as they chased insects for breakfast. (see below)

 

I did notice that many were youngsters with their tail feathers not quite as long as the adults, so presume they were either a late brood or had been delayed by the recent storm system.

Whatever their reason is was a wonderful sight and I hope they all make it to the warmer climes of Africa and some slightly less damp conditions.

I was then immediately brought back down to earth as I faced another tricky day of negotiating the flooded lane that leads to our house.

 

Part of the lane was turned into a river as the small stream that normally sits alongside it spilled over as it failed to cope with the rainfall, eventually creating a river by using the lane as a path to travel along.

 

The lane is now back to normal, apart from the huge amount of debris carried by the flood water, including branches, rocks, litter and mud.

I’m still not sure how wildlife has been affected close to me, though Cheshire Wildlife Trust did say they hoped the population of water voles had kept safe.

It goes to show even those who live in and around water are in danger when flooding occurs.

I suspect flying creatures like butterflies and moths have suffered, particularly the former as I’d seen plenty of them feeding only a few days previously.

But wildlife does have a habit of bouncing back from natural devastations so while the short term for many might not be good, I suspect long term many will use next year to reclaim any losses in 2012.

I’ll now be keeping an eye out for some more straggling swallows, but also for other wildlife to see what the storm has done.

MAY BRINGS WINTER CONDITIONS

The temperatures in May are actually lower than last Christmas, which must be a shock for the summer visitors.

April usually brings showers, but it was more like heavy rain. In fact the wettest April for many areas of the UK.

The rain is welcome for most, though it was just a bit too relentless for some wildlife as they appeared to slow up on the breeding process.

I noticed the great tits were still coming in and around the nestbox, but they don't appear to be on eggs or ready to lay. That said until the nestbox camera is working again I can't be 100 per cent sure.

There are a few night visitors to the windows at night when it's dark and the light are on inside. Moths and daddy long legs have been seen recently, but the cool weather means only a few each night.

Yesterday I saw something I didn't think I'd see, especially in the summer. A family group of long tailed tits was chattering amongst the trees, which shows that food supplies must be low.

The group is usually seen in winter, but because the mild weather meant food supplies for most birds lasted through most of the season, I only saw the group a few times.

If this weather keeps up I expect to see them again, which is wonderful as they fly among the trees chattering away to each other.

The robins, blackbirds, tree sparrows, house sparrows and dunnocks are still regulars in the garden, with the blackbirds enjoying tugging worms out of the wet soil.

I've now filled in the pond with grass from lawn cuttings, so hopefully soon will completely fill it with soil and add some rockery plants.

The tree and house sparrows are showing interest in one of the nestboxes, though other areas of the local houses and buildings seem to be preferred at present.

Finally the swallows are creating wonderful songs from their perches on the telephone wires. I saw three this week, two of which must be the returning parents.

I'm now watching out for them entering the buildings behind the house and for the beginning of nest building.

A SURPRISE VISITOR

So we did have a summer this year, it was in May and June. July and August must be the new autumn!

The warm weather helped to give some wildlife better conditions to raise their young, but it then became too dry as all wildlife need water.

One of the major worries was the pond behind our house. It’s been home to coots, moorhens, reed beds with various insects, fish and a number of ducks. This is despite its relatively small size.

Unfortunately the farmer who owns the pond used almost all of its water to spray on his crops. While this is understandable, the system that was used had more leaks than a Wales farmer’s market or all the country’s water firms put together!

I noticed on a number of occasions the birds floating on what was left of the pond looking very confused with what had happened.

Since the rain started the pond has filled up thanks to an incoming small stream, but is now almost breaching the ‘dam’ wall at one end. It’s at the highest level I’ve seen in three years.

Unfortunately most of the wildlife will have either perished or found somewhere else to live/breed.

My pond is still teeming with life as the number of frogs increasing and tadpoles decrease. I’m not sure how many will survive the first year of life but I hope some will return to spawn when the time is right.

The garden is now in full bloom after and very well watered. The flowers and various plants, bushes and crops have attracted all sorts of insects, butterflies, and moths.

It’s fantastic to see so many of these creatures making our garden sufficiently interesting for them to visit, feed and breed.

This of course attracts birds and we’ve had frequent visits from the blue tits and great tits youngsters born in and around the garden.

One noticeable sight is the amount of goldfinches, swallows and swifts flying overhead or nearby feeding on the wing or in the surrounding fields and bushes.

But, the most exciting moment came when I noticed a bird I’ve never seen before was spotted nearby. It must live within 200m of our house as I’ve spotted it on numerous occasions observing the scene from the same lookout post.

The bird in questions is a little owl and we feel extremely grateful to be able to share our neighbourhood with us.

I first noticed it when a blackbird was issuing an alarm call in a field adjacent to our house. As it was still light I investigated what was bothering it and watched a similar sized bird fly up to a telegraph pole. I then noticed it on the same pole in the subsequent days and was able to identify it.

With a new arrival in our house due any day, updates may become infrequent as Sarah and I become enthusiastic parents! Hopefully we’ll do as well as our local wildlife.